Francisco Pérez’s experience of war

Francisco Pérez Ponte, the young man we see here, was a student in A Coruña, and in 1936 he was only one examination away from completing his degree as a surveyor. However, in October 1936 he was conscripted into the rebel army, cutting short his professional aspirations. He had to report to the recruiting office, and from there he was sent  to a battalion of the 29th Zamora Regiment which was then stationed in León.

Francisco served on various fronts during the war: Asturias, León, the failed attempt to take Madrid, and Aragón before arriving at Vinaroz in the spring of 1938. He hoped that his service would end there, as the war was going very well for the rebels. During the three years of wartime he kept up an Exchange of letters with his sister Dorinda, for whom he wrote in an optimistic vein despite the hardships he was facing. For their part, as the war went on, his parents and siblings began to experience the hardships of war in the rearguard. However, all their letters reflect their intention that the siblings continue with their education so they could find work.

Towards the end of the war, Franco’s General Headquarters ordered a landing at Cartagena to assist the fifth columnists who were supposedly taking over the city. This operation ended in the worst maritime catastrophe of the war: the sinking of the ship Castillo de Olite in March 1938. Francisco Pérez was not originally part of the operation, but, because they had been told that it would be an easy operation, at the last minute he decided to stand in for a fellow soldier whose family lived nearby. He died along with 1,475 soldiers and sailors and was buried in a mass grave in the city.

After the war, Francisco’s father went to Cartagena hoping to find some trace of his son. There was none, and all he could do was to go to take some sand from the beach where the ship had sunk. Dorinda kept this sand in her house until her death, when it was buried with her, closing the circle of pain and memory. Along with the hat he wore when he swore his allegiance to the flag, the sand was the only thing they had. Francisco’s remains are still in the mass grave and his relatives do not know where it is.

FLC